The only thing stopping the Sacramento Kings from a sale and move to Seattle is approval by NBA owners.

The Maloof family has agreed to sell the Kings to a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen, the league confirmed in a statement Monday morning. The deal is still pending a vote by the NBA Board of Governors.

A person familiar with the decision said that Hansen's group will buy 65 percent of the franchise for $525 million, move the team to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name. The Maloofs will have no stake in the team.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was waiting approval.

The sale figure is a total valuation of the franchise, which includes relocation fees. Hansen's group also is hoping to buy out other minority investors.

The Maloofs will get a $30 million non-refundable down payment by Feb. 1, according to the deal, the person said. They will still be allowed to receive other offers until the league approves the sale.

A source said the Seattle deal puts a value of $525 million on the Kings, an NBA record. The source added that Hansen's group is buying out the 65 percent controlled by the Maloofs, which translates into $340 million.

Only once in the past quarter-century has the NBA rejected a sale and relocation proposal, when the league blocked the Minnesota Timberwolves from selling to a group from New Orleans.

Still, the mayor said Wednesday he believes he can make a compelling case to the NBA with "a fair and competitive" offer for the team and a financial package for a new downtown arena. The city was prepared to pour $255 million into an arena deal negotiated by NBA Commissioner David Stern last spring, but the Maloofs walked away from the project.

Although associates and business partners confirmed Wednesday that Burkle and Mastrov are working on a Kings bid, the mayor still wasn't willing Wednesday to publicly identify his "whales" – the deep-pockets investors who would buy the team.

The Maloofs have given a bankruptcy trustee some of the documents regarding the sale of the Sacramento Kings to a Seattle group, it was revealed today.

The documents could figure in the trustee's assertion that the Maloofs may be improperly denying the team's limited partners a chance to match the Seattle group's offer for the team.

David Flemmer, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing limited partner Bob Cook's 7 percent share of the team, has been negotiating with the Maloofs for weeks to get documents related to the Seattle deal. Flemmer's attorney, Don Fitzgerald, said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court today that the Kings relinquished some of the documents Friday and are expected to release more records today.